CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSSPrivate Thompson’s 4th Platoon of M/3/2 landed on Gavutu, British Solomon Islands, at 1025 on 8 August, 1942. This platoon, attached to K/3/2, participated in mopping up operations in the vicinity of Hill 148.
At 1330, as 3/2 relieved a unit of Paramarines atop the hill, they were mistakenly attacked by an American SBD pilot. The bomb struck K Company positions on the northwest nose of the hill, wounding nine and obliterating Privates Thompson, William James, and William Pollock.
The three privates were listed as Missing In Action, and declared dead on 9 August 1943.

INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONSPurple Heart

LAST KNOWN RANKPrivate

STATUS OF REMAINS
“Missing as result of aerial bomb his position.
Body not recovered.”

Biography:
Temporarily removed for editing and updating. Contact the webmaster for information on this Marine.
Articles and Records:

Composite of excerpts from the August, 1942 muster roll of M/3/2nd Marines.Merlyn Thompson left behind an infant daughter, Donna, whom he never met. Nearly a decade after his death, the Iowa WWII Service Compensation commission faced the knotty question of whether Donna or Dora was Merlyn’s beneficiary.

Thanks very much for sharing, John. I recently got a copy of “The Leathernecks Come Through” by Lt. W. Wyeth Willard of the 2nd Marines. Chaplain Willard was tasked with creating the Gavutu cemetery with a team of volunteers, some of whom “fainted because of the heat or the sight of the bloody and stiffened bodies of their friends.” Considering the size of the task at hand – and that he had no trained help, or previous experience in creating a military cemetery – he did quite a remarkable job. (He was also involved in recording burials at Tarawa; the “Willard List” in his diary is at times more accurate than the official records.)

He also has some very vivid descriptions of the battle itself, and of daily life during the long Guadalcanal campaign. Highly recommended read if you can find a copy.